1 APRIL 2011
When Mass First Started to be Celebrated "Not to oppose error is to approve it, and not to defend the truth is to suppress it" - Pope St. Felix III In this report I may occasionally use bold print, Italics, CAPITALIZATION, or word underlining, for emphasis. This will be my personal emphasis and not that of the source that I am quoting. Any footnote preceded by a number in (parenthesis) is my personal library numbering system.
Q:
Hi Ron, I need to know whether something is true or not. Last Sunday's homily was given by one of my Parish Priests (from India) who is a theologian and has his Ph.D. He usually speaks over our heads with all this theology and, nine out of ten times, I sit there scratching my head wondering what he is talking about. […] He also said* that the Church did not begin until about the fourth century and Mass wasn't celebrated until that time. Thank you, Patricia *See "THE SINS OF THE WORLD OR UNBELIEF - THE SIN OF THE WORLD – JOHN 1, 29"
A:
The second part of your question deals with when our Church began and when the first Holy Mass was celebrated. First, most Catholic bibles have a few pages that list all of the popes from the current pope back to St. Peter – the first pope – in an unbroken chain. This itself shows the beginning of the Catholic Church when Jesus was still here on earth alive. Between the time of Christ on earth until the fourth century, there were thirty-nine successive popes. 1 If the popes were not head of the Catholic Church, what were they the head of? "The combination 'the Catholic Church' is found for the first time in the letter of St. Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, written about the year 110."2 "Christians of the first centuries said, 'The world was created for the sake of the Church'. God created the world for the sake of communion with his divine life; a communion brought about by the 'convocation' of men in Christ, and this 'convocation' is the Church. The Church is the goal of all things." 3 "It was the Son's task to accomplish the Father's plan of salvation in the fullness of time. Its accomplishment was the reason for his being sent. The Lord Jesus inaugurated his Church by preaching the Good News, that is, the coming of the Reign of God, promised over the ages in the scriptures. To fulfill the Father's will, Christ ushered in the Kingdom of heaven on earth. The Church is the Reign of Christ already present in mystery."4 "When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church. Then the Church was openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the Gospel among the nations, through preaching, was begun. THE CHURCH WAS, IN THIS FUNDAMENTAL SENSE, CATHOLIC ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST AND WILL ALWAYS BE SO UNTIL THE DAY OF PAROUSIA."5 "Jesus founded the Church by preaching the promised Kingdom of God. The Church is the mysterious reign of Christ on earth. To build His Church, he chose twelve Apostles with Peter as their head. The Church was born from the wounded side of the dead Christ on the cross."6
1 2 3 4 5 6
New Catholic Liturgical Bible, (1966), Nihil Obstat & Imprimatur, Catholic Publishers, Nashville, TN., P. 1289 The Catholic Encyclopedia – Vol.III, (1908), Nihil Obstate & Imprimatur, Robert Appleton Co., New York, NY., P. 449 Catechism of the Catholic Church, ISBN. 978-0-86012-327-9, (2000), Burns & Oates, London, England, Paragraph 760, P. 175 Catechism of the Catholic Church, ISBN. 978-0-86012-327-9, (2000), Burns & Oates, London, England, Paragraph 763, P. 176 Catechism of the Catholic Church, ISBN. 978-0-86012-327-9, (2000), Burns & Oates, London, England, Paragraph 830, P. 193 Jesus, the Catechism, and Me, ISBN. 0-9663761-0-2, (1997), Nihil Obstat, Rev. Fr. Robert J. Levis, Ph.D., Gannon University, Erie, PA.,
P. 17
2 "The Origin of the Mass – The Western Mass (meaning the Roman Rite), like all Liturgies, begins, of course, with the Last Supper. As soon as the faith was brought to the West the Holy Eucharist was celebrated here as in the east."7 "If we may suppose that during the first three centuries there was a common liturgy throughout Christendom, variable, no doubt, in details, but uniform in all its main points, which common Liturgy is represented by that of the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions, we have in that origin of the Roman Mass as of all other liturgies."8 "The tendency among students now is to admit something very like a regulated Liturgy, apparently to a great extent uniform in the chief cities, back even to the first or early second century. In the first place the fundamental outline of the rite of the Holy Eucharist was given by the account of the Last Supper. What our Lord had done then, that same thing He told His followers to do in memory of Him. It would not have been a Eucharist at all if the celebrant had not at least done as our Lord did the night before He died. So we have everywhere from the very beginning at least this uniform nucleus of a Liturgy: bread and wine are brought to the celebrant in vessels (a plate and a cup); he puts them on a table -- the altar ; standing before it in the natural attitude of prayer he takes them in his hands, gives thanks, as our Lord had done, says again the words of institution, breaks the Bread and gives the consecrated Bread and Wine to the people in communion. The Eucharist was always celebrated at the end of a service of lessons, psalms, prayers, and preaching, which was itself merely a continuation of the service of the synagogue. So we have everywhere this double function; first a synagogue service Christianized, in which the holy books were read, psalms were sung, prayers said by the bishop in the name of all (the people answering "Amen" in Hebrew, as had their Jewish forefathers), and homilies, explanations of what had been read, were made by the bishop or priests, just as they had been made in the synagogues by the learned men and elders (e.g., Luke 4:16-27 ). This is what was known afterwards as the Liturgy of the Catechumens. Then followed the Eucharist, at which only the baptized were present."9 "If Christians have celebrated the Eucharist from the beginning and in a form whose substance has not changed despite the great diversity of time and liturgies, it is because we know ourselves to be bound by the command the Lord gave on the eve of His Passion: 'Do this in memory of Me'."10 "As early as the second century we have the witness of St. Justin Martyr for the basic lines of the order of the Eucharistic celebration. They have stayed the same until our own day for all the great liturgical families. St. Justin wrote to the pagan emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) around the year 155, explaining what Christians did: On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city or country gather in the same place. The memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read, as much as time permits. When the reader has finished, he who presides over those gathered admonishes and challenges them to imitate these beautiful things. Then we all rise together and offer prayers for ourselves . . . and for all others, wherever they may be, so that we may be found righteous by our life and actions, and faithful to the commandments, so as to obtain eternal salvation. When the prayers are concluded we exchange the kiss. Then someone brings bread and a cup of water and wine mixed together to him who presides over the brethren. He takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and for a considerable time he gives thanks (in Greek: eucharistian) that we have been judged worthy of these gifts. When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all present give voice to an acclamation by saying: 'Amen.' When he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded, those whom we call deacons give to those present the "eucharisted" bread, wine and water and take them to those who are absent."11 Although all of the core elements of the Holy Mass were present everywhere, there were variations in the overall Liturgy by various bishops. Remember, they did not have the Internet, mail system or telephones to communicate. Since I did not personally hear the context in which your Indian Priest was preaching it could have been that he was referring to a standardized Holy Mass did not come about in the universal Church until about the fourth century. Since you were there you can better decide upon what he actually meant. 7 8 9
The Catholic Encyclopedia – Vol.IX, (1910), Nihil Obstat & Imprimatur, Robert Appleton Co., New York, NY., P.792 The Catholic Encyclopedia – Vol.IX, (1910), Nihil Obstat & Imprimatur, Robert Appleton Co., New York, NY., P. 793 The Catholic Encyclopedia – Vol.IX, (1910), Nihil Obstate & Imprimatur, Robert Appleton Co., New York, NY., P. 307
10 11
Catechism of the Catholic Church, ISBN. 978-0-86012-327-9, (2000), Burns & Oates, London, England, Paragraph 1356, P. 305 Catechism of the Catholic Church, ISBN. 978-0-86012-327-9, (2000), Burns & Oates, London, England, Paragraph 1345, P.P. 302-303
3 This report prepared on January 25, 2011 by Ronald Smith, 11701 Maplewood Road, Chardon, Ohio 440248482, E-mail: <hfministry@roadrunner.com>. Readers may copy and distribute this report as desired to anyone as long as the content is not altered and it is copied in its entirety. In this little ministry I do free Catholic and occult related research and answer your questions. Questions are answered in this format with detailed footnotes on all quotes. If you have a question(s), please submit it to this landmail or e-mail address. Answers are usually forthcoming within one week. PLEASE NOTIFY ME OF ANY ERRORS THAT YOU MAY OBSERVE! † Let us recover by penance what we have lost by sin † From: prabhu To: hfministry@roadrunner.com Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 5:32 PM Subject: Re: *Lamb of God & 1st Mass Report Attached Dear Ron, Your response to Patricia is excellently researched and presented. I concur with you on all that your report says. I recall that in one of your reports, a letter to your bishop, you said that you were only a janitor in theology, and the same goes with me too. Still, I would like to share with you my own two cents worth on my thoughts regarding both parts of Patricia's question and your answer. Your thoughts on my sharing will be greatly appreciated. […] Coming to the second part of your response to Patricia's problem, "He also said that the Church did not begin until about the fourth century and Mass wasn't celebrated until that time", I don't think that any priest, however liberal he may be, would preach that the Church started only in the fourth century. I can only presume that he may have been talking about the origin of the books of the Bible in its present form from the time of the Councils of Carthage and Hippo in 393 and 397 AD. Patricia must have got it mixed up. One of the fundamental facts of Catholic apologetics is that the Church came first [with Jesus and Peter and the disciples], not the Bible as the Protestants wrongly claim. The priest must not have been very clear about the institution and first celebrations of the Mass either, to have further confused Patricia. The Gospels are the evidence of the first Eucharistic celebration, so too the Acts of the Apostles [2:42], letters of St. Paul and the writings of the Early Church Fathers about the celebrations of the "Breaking of the Bread". I enjoy reading -- and learning -- from your reports in response to people's questions. I have finished reading maybe about half of the fifty that you have sent me, in preparing them for hosting on my web site. Yours is a unique ministry. God bless you and our family, and praying for your health, Michael from India
Institution of the Eucharist By Fr. William G. Most www.ewtn.com "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." (John 6:51) The other Sacraments give us grace, the Holy Eucharist gives us not only grace but the Author of all grace, Jesus, God and Man. It is the center of all else the Church has and does. As St. Mark records that, at the Last Supper, Jesus "took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them: "Take this, this is my Body" (Mark 14:22). That word blessed in Greek is eucharistesas, from which the Eucharist derives its name. Three of the four Gospels record the institution of the Holy Eucharist: Matthew 26:25-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-23. St. Paul also records it in First Corinthians 11:23-25. St. John's Gospels does not report this, presumably because he intended chiefly to fill in what the others had not written, for he wrote probably between 90 and 100 A.D. There are small variations in the words, but the essentials are the same in all accounts: This is my body... this is my blood. In John 6:53 Jesus said: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will not have life in you." Of course, He did not mean to cut off salvation from those who through no fault of their own do not know or grasp this truth. It is like the case of Baptism: one must receive it if one knows. The form, that is the words required for the Eucharist, are of course the words of institution. The matter is wheat bread (white or whole wheat) for the host, and natural wine (mixed with a very little water) for the chalice. Addition of a notable amount of other matter would make the material invalid. Jesus is present wherever the appearances (species) of bread and wine are found after the consecration. Hence He is found even when the host is divided. The substance of bread and wine is gone, only the appearances remain. The Church calls this change transubstantiation: change of substance.
4 In John 6:47-67 Jesus did not soften His words about His presence even when so many no longer went with Him: had He meant only that bread and wine would signify Him, He could have so easily explained that, and they would not have left. The Church has always understood a Real Presence. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was eaten by the beasts in Rome around 107 A.D., wrote: "The Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ" (To Smyrna 7:1). St. Justin the martyr wrote around 145 A. D: "We have been taught that the food is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh" (Apology 1. 66. 2). The Council of Trent in 1551 defined that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, body and blood, soul and divinity. Obviously, this divine presence deserves our worship. Really, someone who believes in it should be much inclined to come before the tabernacle often. Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament seems to have started in the 15th century. The Church also promotes Forty Hours devotion. In some places there is perpetual adoration.
The Eucharist in the Fathers By Steve Ray www.catholic-convert.com The word "Eucharist" was used early in the Church to describe the Body and Blood of Christ under the forms of bread and wine. Eucharist comes from the Greek word for "thanks" (eucharistia), describing Christ’s actions: "And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you'." From the first century the Apostolic Fathers referred to this Blessed Sacrament as the Eucharist, emphasizing that it was both the Real Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Sacrifice of the New Covenant. Our Lord taught the Apostles the meaning and liturgical form of the Eucharist, and the apostles in turn passed the tradition on to the early Church. Many Christian sects deny apostolic tradition and attempt to derive details of the sacrament from the Bible alone. However, the New Testament (NT) was never intended as a manual with detailed sacramental instructions. The Blessed Sacrament was learned by apostolic instruction and the faithful transmission of that tradition was passed on through the bishops. The final canon of Scripture was not recognized for almost four centuries after Christ, yet the Christians faithfully celebrated the Eucharist as taught by the apostolic tradition deposited in the Church. Confusion about the Eucharist abounds in non-Catholic Christian circles. But with the exception of Ratramnus (d .AD 868) and Berengarius (d. 1088)—both of whom affirmed the Real Presence in the end— there was a universal understanding and a consistent practice of the Eucharist throughout the Church during the first twelve or thirteen centuries. Only fifty years after Martin Luther had nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door was there a book published entitled Two Hundred Definitions of the Words ‘This is My Body'. The Fathers of the Church knew no such confusion. One of the earliest usages of the word Eucharist is in the Didache which was written as early as AD 60—before many NT writings. In the Didache we read: "Assemble on the Lord’s Day, and break bread and offer the Eucharist; but first make confession of your faults, so that your sacrifice may be a pure one" (Didache 14). In the fourth century, St. Athanasius used the Didache as a catechetical text for his students. Malachi’s prophecy helps us understand the Fathers’ grasp of the Eucharist. St. Paul uses Malachi’s technical term "the table of the Lord" in 1 Corinthians 10:21. The prophet wrote, "For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts" (KJV). This reference to "a pure offering" offered on "the table of the Lord" was interpreted repeatedly by the Fathers, from the first century onward, as a reference to the Eucharist. Even the Didache alludes to Malachi: "For this is the offering of which the Lord has said, 'Everywhere and always bring me a sacrifice that is undefiled, for I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is the wonder of nations'" (Didache 14). Clement of Rome (AD 96), a fellow-worker with the Apostles, relates the new priesthood to that of the Levites: "In the same way, my brothers, when we offer our own Eucharist to God, each one should keep to his own degree" (Letter of Clement to the Corinthians, 41). St. Ignatius of Antioch (d. c. 106), another associate of the Apostles, wrote of "one common Eucharist; for there is but one Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and but one cup of union with His Blood, and one single altar of sacrifice" ( Epistles to the Philippians, 4). St. Justin Martyr (c. 100-c. 165) cites Malachi 1:11: "[God] then speaks to those Gentiles, namely us, who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist, and also the cup of the Eucharist" (Dialog with Trypho the Jew, 14). St. Ignatius of Antioch, though writing around AD 106, clearly represents the theology of the first century. He warns, "But look at those men who have those perverted notions about the grace of Jesus Christ which has come down to us, and see how contrary to the mind of God they are . . . . They even abstain from the Eucharist and the public prayer, because they will not admit that the Eucharist is the self-same body of our Savior Jesus Christ, which [flesh] suffered for our sins, and which the Father in His goodness raised up again" (Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 6, 7). St. Ignatius speaks nobly of the Eucharist: "Share in one common
5 breaking of bread—the medicine of immortality and the sovereign remedy by which we escape death and live in Jesus Christ evermore" (Epistle to the Ephesians, 20). The Catholic Mass continues the theology and liturgy of the first centuries. St. Justin Martyr offers a glimpse of the Eucharistic sacrifice in the mid-second century: "And this food is called among us Eucaristia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh" (First Apology, 1, 62). The word "transubstantiation" was commonly used in the 12 th century and given classical formulation by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th. Though the early Fathers did not use this exact terminology, the teaching was essential to their theology. The Fathers unanimously held to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Some Protestants (e.g., William Webster, The Church of Rome at the Bar of History) tend to approach the Church Fathers in one of two ways. First, they may just ignore or disregard the Fathers as "uninspired" or irrelevant—why study the Fathers when we have the Bible? Second, they may search for perceived contradictions. The perceived contradiction is then presented as a false dilemma that forces an either/or dichotomy. For example, "The Eucharist is either a symbol of the Body of Christ or it is the Body of Christ." The Fathers rejected such contrasts and espoused the both/and approach, understanding that the Eucharist was both a symbol (but never merely as a symbol) and the Real Presence. If the Real Presence was an illicit teaching or unorthodox teaching, wouldn’t we expect to find early orthodox Christians condemning it? Instead, we see the earliest and most respected Christians consistently promoting both the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist and the reality of the Real Presence. Never is this teaching condemned or forbidden. The Catholic doctrine is the result of the organic development of the doctrine taught by the apostles and faithfully preserved by the bishops in the apostolic succession. As an example of such false dilemmas, Fundamentalist Protestants may claim that St. Augustine rejects the Real Presence and refers to the Eucharist as a mere symbol ("eaten spiritually, drunk spiritually"). With such words, St. Augustine is exhorting believers to eat and drink the Eucharist in faith. However, the Fundamentalists fail to disclose that St. Augustine taught that "[Jesus] took flesh from the flesh of Mary. He walked here in the same flesh, and gave us the same flesh to be eaten unto salvation. But no one eats that flesh unless he adores it" (Sermon 174, 7). St. Augustine certainly does not see any contradiction; in fact, his teaching is foundational to the dogmas of the Catholic Church. With glorious harmony, the Fathers of the Church proclaimed the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrifice of the Altar. Opposition was virtually nonexistent until the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. The confusion began with the Reformers, who could form no doctrinal consensus on the Eucharist. At the Marburg Conference in 1529 they were sharply divided and departed the conference in utter disarray. In contrast, the Catholic Church has maintained unity and the fullness of the apostolic teaching by unabashedly proclaiming for two thousand years that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ. St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407) writes, "This is the Body which He gave us, both to hold in reserve and to eat" ( Homily on 1 Cor 24, 4). St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444) concurs, "[Jesus] states demonstratively: 'This is My Body,' and 'This is My Blood,' lest you might suppose the things that are seen are a figure. Rather, by some secret of the all-powerful God the things seen are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, truly offered in a sacrifice in which we, as participants, receive the life-giving and sanctifying power of Christ” ( Commentary on Matthew, 26:27). Steve Ray is a Legatus member, author and producer of Footprints of God video series. Recommended Reading: Crossing the Tiber. Steve Ray, Ignatius Press, 1987 (Whole section on the Eucharist). The Real Presence Through the Ages. Michael Gaudoin-Parker, Alba House, 1998. The Eucharist in the New Testament and the Early Church. Eugene LaVeriere, Liturgical Press, 1996. The Hidden Manna: A Theology of the Eucharist. James T. O’Conner, Ignatius Press, 1988. The Faith of the Early Fathers in three volumes. William Jurgens, Liturgical Press, 1979. The Holy Eucharist. Aidan Nichols, OP, Veritas Publications, 1991. Catholic Faith in the Holy Eucharist. C. Lattey, ed., B. Herder Book Co., 1923.
Scriptural basis of the Mass as sacrifice http://www.zenit.org/article-17075?l=english ROME, September 26, 2006 (Zenit.org) Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
6 Q: Where are we commanded to have a sacrifice in our formal worship of God? Protestants, for the most part, worship with singing, some collective prayers and long sermons. Where in the Bible does it say that proper worship contains a sacrifice? Also a review of where in the Bible the Mass parts come from and why we include them in Mass would be useful. Again, it will come down to convincing a "sola scriptura" believer that Scripture says we must do it. Any help would be appreciated. J.C., Leavenworth, Kansas A: A full answer to this question exceeds the possibilities of this column. There are, however, many worthy resources available online. Web sites such as Catholic Answers contain, among other elements, Father Mitch Pacwa's "Is the Mass a Sacrifice?" The Old Testament contains many divine commands to perform sacrifices. All of the complex liturgical rituals described in Leviticus, for example, are ostensibly commanded by God through Moses. Perhaps the most important sacrifices commanded by God in the Old Testament were those in which the Almighty sealed a covenant. This includes the one with Noah after the flood, the pact made with Abraham, and above all the sacrifice of the paschal lamb in Egypt, a covenant that was completed 50 days later with another sacrifice at Sinai. It was this covenant that was renewed each year at the Passover by means of a sacrificial ritual that was a "memorial" ("zikkaron" in Hebrew). It was not a mere recalling but rather one that ritually made present and ratified and renewed the saving events that had occurred so many years before. For Catholics, the central divine command to worship, using a sacrifice, came from the lips of Christ when he told the apostles at the Last Supper "Do this as in memory of me." In doing so, he specifically recalled the Jewish Passover as a memorial and applied it to himself and his upcoming sacrifice on the cross, with a totally new and definitive meaning. In this context Our Lord's words "This is my body, which is given for you" (Luke 22:19) correspond to those of Exodus 12:27: "[This ritual] is the sacrifice of the Passover in honor of Yahweh" when he freed Israel from slavery in Egypt. The words "For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28) echo those of Exodus 24:8 when Moses says: "This ... is the blood of the covenant that Yahweh has made with you." We are thus before a unique sacrifice, the memorial sacrament of Christ's paschal sacrifice. Through it he has brought salvation to all mankind and sealed a new and eternal covenant in his blood. Although the apostles probably did not immediately grasp the full meaning of Christ's gesture in the cenacle, their reflection on his words and actions and their familiarity with the Passover as a memorial quickly led them to understand that Our Lord had commanded them to repeat the ritual that he had established. They understood that this ritual was the definitive paschal sacrifice which made present Christ's unique sacrifice on Calvary and in doing so ratified and renewed the new and eternal covenant. Therefore, God has commanded us to worship with a sacrifice, his own unique sacrifice. All other forms of ritual sacrifice have fallen by the wayside as Christ's sacrifice has an infinite worth that absorbs all the values and intentions expressed in the ancient sacrifices. The Mass is a sacrifice insofar as it is the memorial that ritually renews and makes present to us, in time, Christ's once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross. The personal prayers and sacrifices of Christians reach their fulfillment when they are united to Christ's sacrifice through full, devout and active participation at Mass. As to where in the Bible the various parts of the Mass are found, the answer is less clear. In a way it is everywhere and nowhere. Everywhere, because the entire Mass is animated by Scripture. Almost all of the prayers and texts have a scriptural background and the entire rite is developed as a fruit of Christ's command to continue his actions. Nowhere, in the sense that we will not find explicit commands to say, "Sing the Sanctus after the preface." Rather, the ritual has developed over time as a response to the scriptural exhortation to pray, to repeat the sacrifice, etc. In this case even a Protestant would have to accept that the details of his worship (songs, psalms and long sermons, etc.) are found in the Bible only in very general terms.
Follow-up: Scriptural Basis of the Mass as Sacrifice http://www.zenit.org/article-17875?l=english ROME, October 10, 2006 (Zenit.org) by Father Edward McNamaraâ&#x20AC;Ś Following our brief treatment of the Mass as sacrifice (Sept. 26) and an earlier comment regarding the priest's obligation to communicate both species before distributing Communion (June 13 and 27, 2006), it appeared necessary to clarify one point. One priest explained why he first distributed the hosts to a very small assembly before all take Communion together: "My reason for the priest not communicating before the others is that we are sharing a meal and it
7 is impolite for a host to eat [...] before offering food to his guests. At the Last Supper it does not seem that the Lord after breaking the bread ate [...] before giving it to the disciples." Although I do not doubt the sincerity and good faith of this priest's argument, especially in the light of other points he mentions, I still cannot agree with him. While recognizing that the subject merits a more detailed reply than I am able to give in this venue, I wish to highlight the following points. It is not quite correct to say that the priest is the host at Mass. The host is Christ who is also the sacrificial meal that is being offered. While the priest acts in Christ's person he does so as a minister. I believe that a closer, albeit still imperfect, analogy of the celebrant's role is that the priest is at once a guest of honor and headwaiter. He also is invited to the Lamb's supper even though his position and role in this are unique and essential. At the same time, he is charged with serving up the sacrificial meal exactly as the divine Host has ordained it through the medium of his Church and not according to the personal tastes and ideas of the minister. Also, while it is true that the Eucharist is certainly a fraternal meal, it is so only insofar as it is a ritual sharing in a sacrificial meal. The convivial or fraternal aspect is one of the fruits of authentic participation in the sacrifice. In the same vein, although the Last Supper was certainly a meal it was primarily a ritual sacrificial meal. From the point of view of the Jewish Passover ritual, participation in the sacrifice, and not the fraternal or family meal as such, was the center of attention. It was in this ritual context that Christ inserted a new ritual by substituting himself for the paschal lamb thus establishing the new and eternal covenant. From the basic rite established by Our Lord the Church quickly developed a new sacrificial ritual quite different from that of the Jewish paschal supper and responding to Christian theology of sacrifice, communion and ministry. Finally, I fail to see how, after almost 2,000 years of constant and universal practice in all rites of the Church, it has suddenly become "impolite" for the minister to take Communion before distributing it to the faithful. In cases like this, when we might have doubts about a certain practice, I believe we should humbly allow ourselves to be guided by tradition or to use Chesterton's term the "democracy of the dead," both those holy saints and martyrs who developed our rites, as well as myriad Christians who for centuries have participated in them. www.ephesians-511.net; michaelprabhu@vsnl.net